Unes Ebn Ya'qoob said:
"I was in Imam Saadeq's(Peace Be Upon Him) presence, when a man
from Shaam (in Syria) arrived."

He said to the Imam
(PBUH): "I am knowledgeable about Kalaam (systematic theology),
religious Jurisprudence and religious duties. I'm here to debate with
your companions."

"Are your words
from the Prophet Mohammad (Peace Be Upon him& His Progeny) or
from yourself?" Imam Saadeq (PBUH) asked.

"It's from both the
Prophet and I." said the man.

The Imam (PBUH): "So
you're the Prophet's (PBUH&HP) partner!"

The man: "No."

The Imam (PBUH): "Have
you received any Revelations (Communications) from Allah, the
Glorified?"

The man: "No."

The Imam (PBUH): "In
the same manner that you obligate yourself to obey the Prophet
(PBUH&HP), do you also obligate yourself to obey yourself too?"

"No." the man
replied.

The Imam (PBUH) turned
to me and said: "Unes Ebn Ya'qoob! This man has already
condemned himself before the start of the debate!"

Then the Imam (PBUH)
said: "O' Unes! if you knew how, you could have debated with
him."

"I am sorry, alas!"
I said "But I have heard that you've forbidden Kalaam; and that
you've said, 'Woe on to the adherents to Kalaam who say: … This is
right, and that is wrong! This will not be! We understand this, and
we don't understand that ...'"

"Woe on to those
who leave my words and go after their desires." Said the Imam
(PBUH). [i.e. those who consider some reasoning and logics -which are
different from that of the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad and his
Allah-Chosen AhlulBayt (PBUT), being the top creations of the
All-Knowing Allah whose obedience has been commanded by Allah- above
their (PBUT) teachings and therefore, accept or reject matters based
upon such logic; those people are only following their desires and
not Allah's wishes! Qur'an 28:50 "…
And they only follow their desires; and who is more erring than he
who follows his desires without any guidance from Allah? Surely Allah
does not guide the unjust people."; Qur'an
45:23 "Have you then
considered him who takes his desire for his god … ."]

Then the Imam (PBUH)
told me: "Go out and invite all Experts in theology whom you can
find."

I invited Hamraan Ebn
A'yan, Ahwal, and Heshaam Ebn Saalem who knew Kalaam very well. And
also Qais Ebn Maaser whom I thought was the best; he had learned
theology from Imam Ali son of Hossain (Peace Be Upon Them). We all
went to the Imam's tent which stood near the mountain close to the
Ka'bah, where he was staying for a few days before the Hajj
ceremonies.

Then the Imam (PBUH) saw
a Camel rushing towards us, "Swear by the Lord of Ka'bah, that
is Heshaam." The Imam (PBUH) said.

We thought that the Imam
(PBUH) meant Heshaam son of Aqeel whom the Imam liked a lot. But he
was Heshaam son of Hakam who was at the beginning of his youth. We
were all older than him. The Imam (PBUH) made room for him and said:
"Heshaam is our (the AhlulBayt's) helper with his heart, tongue
and hands."

The man: "If I say
that we have no differences, I am not saying the truth; and if I say
that today Qur'an and the Sunnah of the Prophet are enough to resolve
our disagreements, I'm definitely wrong, because our understanding
and interpretations of the Holy Qur'an and the Sunnah of the Prophet
are quite different; and if in spite of our discrepancies, both of us
claim that we are right, then that means Qur'an and the Sunnah of the
Prophet have not been able to settle our arguments! But this type of
reasoning is not in my favor and against Heshaam! But I can ask the
same question from Heshaam."

"Who is more
benevolent to the creations, their Creator or themselves?" The
man asked Heshaam.

Heshaam: "Certainly
Allah is more benevolent."

The man: "Has Allah
selected any person to unite people, and to change their
irregularities to regularities , and to explain the Truth and
falsehood for them?"

Heshaam: "During
our Prophet's (PBUH&HP) life time, or now?"

The man: "During
our Prophet's time, that person certainly was the Prophet himself,
but who is that person now?"

Heshaam: "This
great man who is sitting here (pointing to Imam Saadeq -PBUH-). In
order to gain knowledge about the Heavens and the Earth, people come
from all over the world to see him, he who has inherited the
Knowledge from his fathers."

The man: "How could
I be sure?"

Heshaam: "Ask him
whatever you wish."

The man: "You left
me no excuse. I shall ask."

The Imam -PBUH- [with
his Allah-Bestowed Knowledge] read the man's mind and knew what he
wanted to ask. "Now I answer what you have not asked but wish to
ask." The Imam said to the man.

Then the Imam (PBUH)
expressed all the details of the man's trip from Shaam to there.

The man said with
excitement and enthusiasm: "Yes yes you are right. That is it.
Swear by Allah I embrace Islam."

"No, instead, say
that now you have Eemaan (Belief)!1 [because the man had already
accepted Islam] Accepting is before believing. With acceptance of
Islam, people inherit from and Marry each other and … [follow the
rules of the Religion], but with Eemaan (True Belief) they will
receive Spiritual and Eternal rewards." The Imam continued "you
believed in Allah and the Messenger before, but you were a Moslem who
didn't have Spiritual and Eternal rewards for your worshipping, but
now that you have accepted my leadership of Islam [i.e. the
recognition of the Imamat (Divinely Ordained Leadership) of the 'Imam
of the time' 2] Allah will give you rewards for your worships."

The man: "You have
said the absolute Truth, I bear witness that there is no god but
Allah; I bear witness that Muhammad is the Prophet of Allah; I bear
witness that you are his Allah-Chosen Successor."

Then Imam (PBUH) turned
to Heshaam Ebn Saalem and said: "You look for Hadith; you want
to speak the Truth; but you can't recognize it."

Imam (PBUH) told Ahwal:
"You syllogize too much, therefore you go out of the discussion;
you refute false with another false, thus the false is emphasized
more."

After that, Imam (PBUH)
said to Qais: "You try to speak in a way to get closer to the
Prophet's Ahaadith but you tend to get further; you mix the Truth
with falsehood; while a little of the Truth is more effective than a
lot of falsehood." The Imam continued: "Ahwal and you jump
from one subject to another, while you are well skilled."

I thought for sure that
the Imam will tell Heshaam as he told them, but he said: "You do
not fall on your feet; rather you fly before you reach the ground.
(as soon as you feel that you are being defeated, you save yourself
quickly.) A person like you should talk to people and show them the
right way. Keep yourself from committing any offence, and then,
Allah-Willing, our Intercession will follow."

Notes:

1-
Qur'an
49:14 "The A'raab
say: we have Believed (have Eemaan, True Faith and Belief); say: you
do not have Eemaan and rather say that you have Islam, and the Eemaan
has not yet entered your hearts; and if you obey Allah and His
Messenger, He will not diminish aught of your deeds; surely Allah is
Forgiving, Merciful."

Qur'an
4:65 "But no! by your
Lord! they have not Believed (do not have Eemaan) until they make you
(the Prophet) a judge of that which has become a matter of
disagreement among them, and then do not find any straits whatsoever
in their hearts and souls as to what you have decreed, and submit
with absolute submission."

Hadn't the Prophet
Muhammad (PBUH&HP) from the Yawm-O-Ddaar to Ghadir and … -based
on Qur'an and Allah's Command- repeatedly ordained the obedience of
the AhlulBayt (PBUT)?

2- The Hadith from the
Prophet Muhammad (PBUH&HP) -in which he (PBUH&HP) has clearly
declared that any one dying without recognizing, obeying, pledging
his allegiance, … to the Imam of his time, has actually died a
death of Jaaheliyat (pre-Islam Ignorance)- not only has been narrated
in the most authentic Shi'ah documents, but also in many Sunni
sources such as: Mosnad Ahmad Hanbal, Mosnad Abu Daawood. Tabaqaat
Kobra of Mohammad Sa'd, Al Me'yaar wal Mowaazenah of Abu Ja'far
Eskaafi, … .

O' the Exalted and
Glorified above all Glorifications! O' Allah! We implore You with all
our existence, to bestow upon us the celestial opportunities to
submit our hearts, tongues and hands in the Path of the 'Imam of our
time', Your beloved Mahdi -whose Path is Your Specified and Ordained
Path- before, during and after his Ever-Anticipated Appearance … .

LET US SEEK THE IMAM
OF OUR TIME (PBUH) MOMENT BY MOMENT … UNTIL THE END.